You will need:
- Safety Glasses
- Fiber Trash Bin
- Consumables
- Connectors
- Fiber Optic Cable
- Epoxy & Syringes or Anaerobic Adhesive
- Polishing Film (12/3/0.3 micron)
- Fiber Trash Bin
Tools
Adjustable Cable Jacket stripper
Aramid Yarn Scissors
Fiber Stripper
Crimp Tool
Scribe
Polishing Puck
Polishing Plate (Glass)
Rubber Pad (for polishing PC connectors, especially singlemode)
Connector Adhesive Curing Oven
- Test equipment:(for testing
your termination)
Power Meter
LED Light Source- Reference Test Cables
FOtracer
Microscope For Connector Viewing - Reference Test Cables
Contents
Step 2 - Examine Connector Construction
Step 3 - Stripping the Cable
Step 4 - Preparing the Epoxy
Step 5 - Applying the Connector to the Fiber
Step 6 - Scribe and Polish
Step 7 - Visual Inspection - Microscope
Step 8 - Test the Connector
Step 9 - The Quiz
The first step in terminating optical fiber is to gather all the tools you will need and arrange them for easy use. It helps to be working in an area that has good light and is not dusty.
If you are using a curing oven to cure the epoxy in less than 10 minutes, you will need power, either AC or the optional battery, also. If you plan to let the epoxy cure overnight, you will need a place to keep the cable away from handling.
Next, get all your consumables ready. In our training courses, we start with a 2 meter (or 6 foot) ST to ST cable with 62.5 multimode fiber. This allows us to test it first to make certain both connectors are good, then cut it in half and terminate the cut ends. This allows us to test the connectors as soon as we make them.
If you use a unterminated cable, we recommend a 3 mm jacketed simplex or zipcord cable so you learn how to terminate cable with strength members properly. And before you start stripping raw cable, tie a knot in the end to keep the fiber and kevlar strength members from pulling out when you try to strip the fiber.
- Safety Warning!
- The biggest hazard in dealing with fiber is the small, sharp shards of fiber that are produced when cutting or cleaving fiber! Always wear safety glasses to protect your eyes and be careful to not stick fibers in your fingers or hands. Always keep a disposable fiber trash bin nearby for all fiber scraps. Pick up scraps off the floor too!
- Later, we'll be working with expoxy and anaerobic adhesive, which you will want to keep off your skin (and it's not removeable from clothing either!) and isopropyl alcohol which is flammable. Be careful when handling these substances.
- Hint: Working on a black surface makes the fiber more visible and can help working with it. We show a gray background just for photographic purposes.
- The biggest hazard in dealing with fiber is the small, sharp shards of fiber that are produced when cutting or cleaving fiber! Always wear safety glasses to protect your eyes and be careful to not stick fibers in your fingers or hands. Always keep a disposable fiber trash bin nearby for all fiber scraps. Pick up scraps off the floor too!
